Are the parents of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) in Paradise or in Hell?

Question

Where are the parents of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)? Are they in Paradise or in Hell? We hope you can tell us of a hadeeth which proves the answer?.

Answer

Praise be to Allaah.

There is a hadeeth from the Prophet (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) which indicates that they are in Hell.

Muslim (203) narrated from Anas (may Allaah be pleased with
him) that a man said: “O Messenger of Allaah, where is my father?” He said:
“In Hell.” When he turned away he called him back and said: “My father and
your father are in Hell.”

Al-Nawawi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

This shows that whoever dies in a state of kufr will be in
Hell. And being related to one who is close to Allaah will not avail him
anything. It also shows that whoever died during the fatrah (the interval
between the Prophethood of ‘Eesa (peace be upon him) and that of Muhammad
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)) and was the follower of
the way of the Arabs at that time, which was idol worship, will also be
among the people of Hell. There is no excuse for the call not reaching them,
because the call of Ibraaheem and other Prophets (peace be upon them) had
reached these people.

Muslim (976) narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be
pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) said: “I asked my Lord for permission to pray for
forgiveness for my mother, but He did not give me permission. And I asked
Him for permission to visit her grave, and He gave me permission.”

It says in ‘Awn al-Ma’bood:

“But He did not give me permission” means: because she was a
kaafirah (disbeliever) and it is not permissible to pray for forgiveness for
the kuffaar.

Al-Nawawi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

This shows that it is not permitted to pray for forgiveness
for the kuffaar.

Shaykh Ibn Baaz (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

When the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) said, “My father and your father are in Hell,” he spoke with knowledge,
for he did not speak on the basis of his whims and desires, as Allaah says
(interpretation of the meaning):

“By the star when it goes down (or vanishes).

2. Your companion (Muhammad) has neither gone astray nor
has erred.

3. Nor does he speak of (his own) desire.

4. It is only a Revelation revealed”

[al-Najm 53:1-4]

Were it not that proof has been established against
‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib, the father of the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him), the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) would not have said what he did about him. Perhaps he
had heard something that established proof against him on the basis of the
religion of Ibraaheem, because they used to follow the religion of Ibraaheem
until the innovations were introduced by ‘Amr ibn Luhayy al-Khuzaa’i and his
innovations became widespread among the people, such as the propagation of
idols and praying to them instead of to Allaah. Perhaps ‘Abd-Allaah had
heard something that showed him that the idol worship of Quraysh was wrong,
but he still followed them, and thus proof was established against him.
Similarly, the hadeeth which says that the Prophet (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) asked for permission to pray for forgiveness for his
mother but it was not granted, and he asked for permission to visit her
grave and he was permitted to do so but not to pray for forgiveness for her,
perhaps she had heard something that established proof against her, or
perhaps the people of the Jaahiliyyah are to be treated as kuffaar as far as
rulings in this world are concerned, so we should not pray for them or pray
for forgiveness for them, because outwardly they seem to be kuffaar, and
should be regarded and dealt with as such, and their case in the Hereafter
is for Allaah to judge.

Fataawa Noor ‘ala al-Darb

Al-Suyooti (may Allaah have mercy on him) was of the view
that the parents of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) will be saved (from Hell), and that Allaah brought them back to life
after they had died and they believed in him.

This view was rejected by the majority of scholars who ruled
that the ahaadeeth which indicate that are fabricated (mawdoo’) or very weak
(da’eef jiddan).

It says in ‘Awn al-Ma’bood:

Most of the reports that been narrated to the effect that the
parents of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) were
brought back to life and believed in him and were saved are fabricated and
false. Some of them are very weak and cannot be saheeh under any
circumstances, as the imams of hadeeth are unanimously agreed that they are
fabricated, such as al-Daaraqutni, al-Jawzaqaani, Ibn Shaheen, al-Khateeb,
Ibn ‘Asaakir, Ibn Naasir, Ibn al-Jawzi, al-Suhayli, al-Qurtubi, al-Muhibb,
al-Tabari, Fath al-Deen ibn Sayyid al-Naas, Ibraaheem al-Halabi and others.
The scholar Ibraaheem al-Halabi explained at length the fact that the
parents of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) have
not been saved from Hell in a separate essay, as did ‘Ali al-Qaari in
Sharh al-Fiqh al-Akbar and in a separate essay. The basis for this
opinion is the soundness of this hadeeth (“My father and your father are in
Hell”). Shaykh Jalaal al-Deen al-Suyooti differed from the huffaaz and
scholars and affirmed that they had believed and had been saved, and he
wrote numerous essays on that topic, including al-Ta’zeem wa’l-Minnah fi
anna Abaway Rasool-Illaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
fi’l-Jannah.

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him)
was asked: Is there any saheeh report from the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) that Allaah brought his parents back to
life so that they could become Muslims, then they died (again) after that?

He replied: There is no saheeh report to that effect from the
scholars of hadeeth. Rather the scholars are agreed that this is an invented
lie… There is no dispute among the scholars that this is one of the most
obvious of fabrications, as was stated by those who have knowledge. That
does not appear in any of the reliable books of hadeeth, either in the
Saheehs or the Sunans or the Musnads or any other
well-known books of hadeeth. It was not mentioned by the authors of the
books of Maghaazi or Tafseer, even though they narrated da’eef
(weak) reports along with saheeh (sound) ones. The fact that this is a lie
is clear to any one who has any knowledge of religion. If such a thing had
happened there would have been a great deal of motivation to transmit it,
because it is something that is extraordinary on two counts: the raising of
the dead and believing after death. Such a thing would have been more
deserving of being transmitted than anything else. Since no trustworthy
narrated transmitted it, it may be understood that this is a lie.

Moreover, this goes against the Qur’aan and the saheeh
Sunnah, and the consensus of the scholars. Allaah says (interpretation of
the meaning):

“Allaah accepts only the repentance of those who do evil
in ignorance and foolishness and repent soon afterwards; it is they whom
Allaah will forgive and Allaah is Ever All‑Knower, All‑Wise.

18. And of no effect is
the repentance of those who continue to do evil deeds until death faces one
of them and he says: ‘Now I repent;’ nor of those who die while they are
disbelievers”

[al-Nisa’ 4:17-18]

So Allaah states that there is no repentance for one who dies
as a disbeliever. And Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Then their Faith (in
Islamic Monotheism) could not avail them when they saw Our punishment.
(Like) this has been the way of Allaah in dealing with His slaves. And there
the disbelievers lost utterly (when Our Torment covered them)”

[Ghaafir 40:85]

So He tells us that the way in which He deals with His
slaves is that faith will be to no avail once they have seen the punishment,
so how about after death? And there are other similar texts. Then he quoted
the two hadeeth which we quoted at the beginning of our answer.